Unbeaten East Stroudsburg South romps

EAST STROUDSBURG — East Stroudsburg South left no doubt. And they can see the finish line now.

MIKE KUHNS

EAST STROUDSBURG — East Stroudsburg South left no doubt. And they can see the finish line now.

Niko Petrone ran for 238 yards and four touchdowns as the Cavaliers ended a two-game skid against Pleasant Valley in a 30-14 victory Friday night in the Purple Pit.

In a battle of the last two unbeaten teams in the MVC, ES South's defense forced and recovered three fumbles and the Cavaliers (7-0, 6-0 MVC) did a great job bottling up the Bears' running game.

The Cavaliers are two games away (Lehighton and ES North) from their first Mountain Valley Conference title since 2010.

"We're feeling good but we still have two more games left," said Benny Nieves, a senior corner who forced a huge fumble that led to a South touchdown in the third quarter. "Anything can happen in those two games, so we've got to keep playing the way we are and keep it up."

The Cavaliers haven't beaten PV since 2010 when they faced one another in the District 11 playoffs. ES South led 14-7 at the half, but the Cavaliers opened the second half with a 58-yard kick return by Demetrius Lanier. Four plays later, Petrone scored his third touchdown of the game for a 20-7 lead with 10:13 to go in the third quarter.

PV was on the move on the next drive when Nieves dislodged the ball from PV's Nick Huerta. That set up a Petrone 56-yard touchdown for a 27-7 advantage.

"He's a very determined young man," ES South head coach Ed Christian said of Petrone, who eclipsed 1,000 yards for the season. "He's very confident in what he does, and what he does he does very well. You give him the ball and you give him the ball enough times and good things are going to happen."

PV tried to counter with its senior quarterback Brandon Leap (238 yards passing, TD) and their receiving group. Leap completed 10 of his first 11 passes in the game.

But it was the turnovers that killed the Bears (5-2, 5-1). PV turned the ball over on the first play which led to a South touchdown, and then Nieves' forced turnover led to pivotal points in the third quarter.

"Absolutely crucial," Christian said of his team's forced fumbles. "The most important thing is we took advantage of them."

The Bears tried to rally late in the third quarter with a Leap to Kevin Cruz touchdown, cutting ES South's lead to 27-14. But South responded with a 22-yard field goal by Jake Hetner for a 30-14 lead with 11:09 to go.

"It was a good feeling to beat them, especially when they beat us last year," Nieves said.